有人说,英语中的新闻 news 一词是由表示方位的北、东、西和南 north、east、west、south 四个词的第一个字母组成的。表面上来看,这似乎有道理。但是,查一查该词的词源就会发现,这种说法纯系杜撰。news 同四个方位词的第一个字母相同,完全是巧合。news 这个词是 new 的复数形式,是仿照古法语词 noveles 构成的。在十五世纪,它表示“消息”;十六世纪,表示“新奇的事物”。 Some people say that the term news in English is composed of the first letters of the four words north, east, west and south of north, east, west and south. On the surface, this seems reasonable. However, if we look up the etymology of this word, we will find that this is purely an aphorism. news with the first four letters of the same letter, is a coincidence. The word news is the plural of new, which is modeled after the noveles of Old French. In the fifteenth century, it said “message ”; the sixteenth century, said “novelty ”.